Othon Castaneda

Calcaneus Stone + zoom	Coccyx Stone Key + zoom	Pectoralis Capital + zoom	Pectoralis Capital Two + zoom
Rare Self Portrait Drops + zoom	Abdominal Archaic Column + zoom	Coccyx Merlons + zoom	Thoracic Conjunction + zoom
Pectoralis Joint + zoom	Sacro-Ilium Arc + zoom	Illium Arc + zoom	Rare Self-Portrait + zoom

Artist Statement

The abstracted body and sensuality, naked in the force of its simplified form, reminds me of the geometry with which I determine my work. It is from the twisted and wavy forms of consecutive circularity that I intent to communicate my interest in the relations between the human body, nature and things and the continuous sensuality of life.

Everything is construction and setting; relationships between bodies and their context, between the skin-surfaces which describe them and their containers. The assignable limits always flow and the truth and conceptions of the world, move unexpectedly as that of art itself.

Thus, in the roundedness contrasted to the orthogonal, I try to communicate the change continuum; the constant in the ephemeral that describes us with endless force in itself and which describes the passing of time through flesh.

Volume and materiality, is the constant to construct my pieces like objects that refer to the emotional, to the sensual and to the erotic. The body and its physical, geometric, and existential possibilities, deprived of its daily forms, is the syntax whereupon I integrate my language to counterpoint between the natural and the artificial, project and improvisation, feminine and masculine, pain and pleasure, like complementary opposed, dichotomies . Thus I create sexed matter of abstract form, which is the continuity of the “me” who transform his context.

...Space, reason, intervention, form and construction are aspects that I adopt to create my proposal, in a way so that I treat the bi-dimensional or three-dimensional work like architectures that show possible emotional states and that I project through natural or transformed matter.

Biography

Visual artist and architect from the Habitat Faculty of the San Luis Potosi University in Mexico, Castaneda has worked extensively in printmaking, painting, installation and constructing techniques that he uses in his work as a visual artist and a scenery designer.  He has exhibited more than 40 times since 1991 in galleries, cultural centers and museums in Mexico, USA, Belize, Ecuador, Spain and Canada.

What is your artwork about (underlying concept, focus, themes, intent, etc)?

My art manifests volume, underneath, body and construction. The abstract form of the body, the reference to their volume and the material support are the language with which I adapt the anatomy to the space-circumstance. When I start the abstract process I attempt to adapt the figure to a space-form, incorporating that body to the space-phenomenon, and specifically to the architectonic one. My interest in the architecture is in the form in which I transform the body and to incorporate in the new context.

My work attempted to create images, mediations between the fervor of the civilization and our social constructions to transform the surroundings accord to our image and the gravity of the impossibility to do so permanently; I intend to bring back to consciousness man’s no-adaptability, adapting our image to new abstract contexts, changing the rules of how we see ourselves. Thus, the natural existence and the abstract persistence are melted together.

The support, the media is not a cold element, is part of the meaning: the context conquered by the abstract body and at the same time transformed by our own construction. The abstraction process, is the forced adaptation of the image of the body to the space conditions imposed by the own artist’s game. With this sort of sophistication of the natural image, of the body and its formal adaptation I try to communicate a formal-space relation of the body and its context.

What matters to you most about the work that you do?

Maintain the mystery, or to say it of another form, the balance point between two realities intersected in my work: human body and abstract form.

Do you feel you need to position your work within the context of art history and if so what's your take on that?

I do not know if need to do it, but definitely Im interested in certain styles, schools or movements such surrealism, constructivism, organic abstraction, minimalism as well as architecture and design.

Is there a trigger or a starting point for each piece?

Yes, I always start with a series project, I mean, I always work conceiving a project based in the relation of the body against a space (plane, position, volume, media), in certain way I use some project skills that I learned from architecture school to project my art series.

How has your work evolved over the last five years?

There are several aspects were my art work has evolved. One of those aspects is that now I’m more accurate in the contents which my art is about; since the first time I know what I want to communicate, what I would like to get from the public , what I’ll build up. Secondly, my art went more minimal and concrete eliminating those derivative meanings that might be another artwork itself. Other important thing in my evolution is the capability to approach different aesthetic challenges keeping my own language which I think is a symptom of maturity, that’s why I feel comfortable using engraving, painting, sculpture, ensemble, or other languages to communicate my interests.

What is currently the central motivation for or conceptual concern in your work?

Create meanings is my central motivation. My concern: build up new images accord to my aesthetic interests to provoke a reflexive approach to my art.

How does your physical/geographical environment inform the work you do?

I’m originally from Mexico and I never felt that I was from a specific place. I always saw me between worlds, just in the border of places-concepts; maybe that’s why because I’m in the human anatomy looking toward abstract concepts, probably it’s the reason that people refers to my art as figurative-abstract, two worlds. Perhaps that’s why I always work my art through project series, because I feel the world as an always changing scenario and this is the best way to me to approach it.

Now in Miami, after 4 years I feel in a place where multicultural paths are intersected. In that context I assume the certain rarity of my art not just as a personal style but as a result of born between borders and live in the intersection of different viewpoints, maybe that’s why I always looking for an eclectic nature of art.

What mediums, techniques, or processes are involved in your art making (and why these)?

I reject the traditional use of any media, but not the media itself. I use the engraving, painting, but making from them a more suitable media accord to the image that I want to produce. That’s why I always feel free to print ensembles, cut paintings, engrave sculptures, install and construct things; because I understand that art comes from the canon to break the canon and unveil a new one.

What are your other passions in life and how have these influenced your work?

I love music and making music. I make songs that I’d want to listen to while I paint and I made a soundtrack for one of my projects.

Why are you an artist?

I think because I enjoy creating new images, unexpected objects and because if not do so, I suffer the consequence of be motionless.